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I noticed a sign outside a restaurant:

"No wifi.

Talk to each other.

Call your Mom.

Pretend it's 1993.

Live."

Normally I would agree.

I have made a career of complaining about NOW and how it was better THEN. And based on all the positive responses I get, many of you feel the same. But it's like we have become our parents, grumbling and saying things like….

(Back in the day we didn't need 600 online friends. We had five or six who were from the neighborhood who didn't need to plug into anything to have fun, and were usually waiting outside to play ringalerio).

There's a lot of complaining about today's technology and what it's done to us on a personal and social level, but I've started to embrace the fact that there are some real positives to being "plugged in."

(Back in the day, we didn't have texting. Your boyfriend had to break up with you in person)

THEN, there was the telephone. NOW, there's texting. Without it I would never hear from my kids as much as I do. Granted it's embarrassing when I text something to my son that was supposed to go to my brother, but as soon as I see "huh?" I know I've done something wrong. It's also clear that I'm not quite getting through to my mother (who calls me every day, sometimes a few times a day) on the difference between texting and FaceTime. Patience, I remind myself. It will help me get into heaven. My daughter says, "Nanny's face keeps appearing on my phone during class." Practice patience, I tell her. It will help you get into heaven.

(Back in the day we had to read a map).

NOW, I couldn't live without GPS.

THEN, I remember being in a constant state of lost. My blood pressure rising while valuable minutes slipped away. My way around this was 1-800-CALL-DAD, but first I had to find a phone booth and hope I had dimes. NOW, with GPS I'm never lost. My blood pressure remains constant while a sweet voice calmly recalculates without ever once saying "Lady, WTF?" My husband asks, "Don't you want to have an idea of where you are going before you head off?" No. I do not.

(Back in the day we were happy with AM radio and the music was better).

NOW there's my beloved IPOD. THEN I carpooled to middle school while a friend's father insisted on listening to opera and wishing I had a pencil to stick in my eye. NOW I never have to listen to someone else's music; not to mention all the great music apps that I don't mind paying for in the least. And since everyone in my family, including my 84-year-old Dad, uses my password to share their music stations it's very eclectic to say the least. Think the following playlists: John Phillip Sousa, Lil Wayne, Rolling Stones, Judy Garland, Bix Beidebecke, Country Fitness, Akon, 50 cent, Bruce, Broadway, Glenn Miller and NO OPERA.

But my all-time favorite thing about NOW is Google search and my personal assistant, SIRI. There's something wonderful about typing the word eschatology on the dictionary app and instantly knowing what it means.

(Back when I was your age we had to walk over to the shelf and use a dictionary).

NOW I can find a solution to getting oil stains out of a sweater, if it's safe to freeze chopped liver, how to mix a Moscow Mule. NOW we can look up a new drug for Alzheimer's, listen to how a song is supposed to be played on the piano before practicing it wrong for two weeks, get a list for the best Caribbean vacation spots in December, amazing hotels, what they look like and some reviews. We can find the weather in Canberra and pack accordingly, track a flight, find cheap gas, check the NASDAQ, reserve a cab, map the stars at night and know how to perfectly poach a chicken…INSTANTLY!

(Back when I was your age, we had to read a cookbook).

And these are just my short list of what I love about NOW! So instead of complaining about the disappearance of all that was THEN, make your own list of what you are better for NOW. You might be happily surprised by all you have gained.

I was.

Then turn off your WIFI and go call your Mom. It will help you with your patience and getting into heaven.

- Tracy Buckner

Tracy Buckner contributes periodically to the Observer Tribune Newspaper of Chester, N.J., and blogs for the New Jersey Hills Newspaper, serving Madison, Chatham and Chester, N.J. She enjoys writing about the slow decline and vows to go down kicking and screaming. You can see read other pieces and sign up to follow her on her blog.